Small renewable energy harvesting and power generation technologies (such as solar arrays, wind turbines, micro sterling engines, and solid oxide fuel cells) are proliferating, and there is a commensurate strong need for intermediate size secondary (rechargeable) energy storage capability. Batteries for these stationary applications typically store between 1 and 50 kWh of energy (depending on the application) and have historically been based on the lead-acid (Pb-acid) chemistry. Banks of deep-cycle lead-acid cells are assembled at points of distributed power generation and are known to last 1 to 10 years depending on the typical duty cycle. While these cells function well enough to support this application, there are a number of problems associated with their use, including: heavy use of environmentally unclean lead and acids (it is estimated that the Pb-acid technology is responsible for the release of over 100,000 tons of Pb into the environment each year in the US alone), significant degradation of performance if held at intermediate state of charge or routinely cycled to deep levels of discharge, a need for routine servicing to maintain performance, and the implementation of a requisite recycling program. There is a strong desire to replace the Pb-acid chemistry as used by the automotive industry. Unfortunately the economics of alternative battery chemistries has made this a very unappealing option to date.
Despite all of the recent advances in battery technologies, there are still no low-cost, clean alternates to the Pb-acid chemistry. This is due in large part to the fact that Pb-acid batteries are remarkably inexpensive compared to other chemistries (<$200/kWh), and there is currently a focus on developing higher-energy systems for transportation applications (which are inherently significantly more expensive than Pb-acid batteries).